UH Manoa Core Requirements

1. Foundations Requirement: 12 credits

The Foundations requirements are intended to give students skills and perspectives that are fundamental to undertaking higher education. Students complete the Foundations requirements during their first year at UH Manoa. Courses taken to fulfill the Foundations requirements may not be used to fulfill Diversification or Focus requirements.

Written Communication (FW): 3 credits

Written Communication courses introduce students to the rhetorical, conceptual, and stylistic demands of writing at the college level; courses give instruction in composing processes, search strategies, and composing from sources. Courses also provide students with experiences in the library and on the internet and enhance their skills in accessing and using various types of primary and secondary materials.

FW Courses

ENG 100, 100A Composition I

ENG 190 Composition for Transfer Students to UH Manoa

ESL 100 Composition I for Second Language Writers

To enroll in a course that meets the Written Communication requirement, students must first determine their course eligibility by visiting www.manoa.hawaii.edu/mwp. Non-native speakers of English should visit www.hawaii.edu/eli or contact the English Language Institute at (808) 956-8610, uhmeli@hawaii.edu.

Symbolic Reasoning (FS): 3 credits

Symbolic Reasoning courses expose students to the beauty and power of formal systems, as well as to their clarity and precision; courses do not focus solely on computational skills. Students learn the concept of proof as a chain of inferences. They learn to apply formal rules or algorithms, engage in hypothetical reasoning, and traverse a bridge between theory and practice. In addition, students develop the ability to use appropriate symbolic techniques in the context of problem solving and to present and critically evaluate evidence.

FS Courses

BUS 250* Applied Math in Business

ICS 141 Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science I

ICS 241* Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science II

MATH 100 Survey of Mathematics

MATH 112* Math for Elementary Teachers II

MATH 140** Precalculus: Trigonometry and Analytic Geometry

MATH 161 Precalculus and Elements of Calculus for Economics and the Social Sciences

Global and Multicultural Perspectives (FG): 2 courses, 6 credits

Global and Multicultural Perspectives courses provide thematic treatments of global processes and cross-cultural interactions from a variety of perspectives. Students will gain a sense of human development from prehistory to modern times through consideration of narratives and artifacts from diverse cultures. At least one component of each of these courses will involve the indigenous cultures of Hawai'i, the Pacific, or Asia.

FG Courses

To satisfy this requirement, students must take a total of six credits; the six credits must come from two different groups.

Group A (courses marked FGA in this Catalog and online; courses cover the time period prehistory to 1500)

ANTH 151, 151A Emerging Humanity

ART 175 Survey of Global Art I

HIST 151 World History to 1500

HIST 161A World Cultures in Perspective

LLEA 151 World Myth to 1500 C.E.

OCN 105 Sustainability in a Changing World

WS 175 History of Gender, Sex, and Sexuality in Global Perspectives to 1500 CE

Group B (FGB; courses cover the time period 1500 to modern times)

AMST 150 America and the World

ANTH 152, 152A Culture and Humanity

ART 176, 176A Survey of Global Art II

FSHN 141 Culture and Cuisine: The Global Diversity of Food

GEOG 102 World Regional Geography

HAW 100 Language in Hawa'i: A Microcosm of Global Language Issues

HIST 152 World History since 1500

HIST 162A World Cultures in Perspective

LING 105 Language Endangerment, Globalization, and Indigenous Peoples

SOCS 180 Introduction to International and Global Studies

TIM 102 Food and World Cultures

WS 176 History of Gender, Sex and Sexuality in Global Perspective, 1500 CE to the Present

Group C (FGC; courses cover the time period prehistory to modern times)

BOT 105, 105A Ethnobotany

GEOG 151 Geography and Contemporary Society

HIST 156 World History of Human Disease

LLL 150 Literature and Social Change

MUS 107, 107A Music in World Cultures

REL 150 Introduction to the World's Major Religions

For Non-UH System Transfer Students Only

Students who transfer from a non-UH System school with one or more western civilization courses will be required to take only three credits of Global and Multicultural Perspectives. If the course or courses that they have taken are time period specific, the credits that they take at UH Manoa must cover a different time period.

General Education Goals

UH Manoa provides an environment in which both faculty and students can discover, examine, preserve, and transmit the knowledge, wisdom, and values that will enrich present and future generations. UH Manoa's special and global distinction is found in its Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific orientation. The academic program structure and research enterprise take special advantage of Hawai'i's unique environment.

General Education at UH Manoa involves a flexible and diverse multi-disciplinary curriculum. The General Education requirements foster a deeper appreciation of the complexities and potentialities of the human experience from the perspectives of the arts, humanities, and the natural and social sciences. They also encourage an understanding of imagination and creativity through the application of abstract and intuitive thinking. Upon graduation, students will be able to:

Appreciate the values and ideas of cultures as they have evolved and as they find expression in literature, history, philosophy, religion, art, and music;

Reason and analyze effectively;

Communicate clearly and effectively in Standard English;

Know the aims and methods of science;

Recognize the ways in which individuals and social institutions organize and shape behavior.

Please note: This Catalog was prepared to
provide information and does not constitute a contract. The University
reserves the right to change or delete, supplement or otherwise amend
at any time and without prior notice the information, requirements and
policies contained in this Catalog.